Then and Now: How the World Has Changed Since Facebook Was Born 10 Years Ago

By JON M. CHANG

Feb. 4, 2014

ABCNews.com

The Facebook you see now is almost unrecognizable compared to the version that debuted ten years ago today. Even the name is different. The social network was officially called "The Facebook" until 2005.

Facebook started as a digital playground for Harvard students and transformed into a tech behemoth, now boasting more than 1.2 billion users. And as Facebook has changed over the past decade, so has the whole tech ecosystem surrounding it. As the social network celebrates its tenth birthday, here's a look back at 10 other things that have changed since 2004.

Now: What isn't Google doing these days? Between Google Glass and its fleet of robots, Google has become synonymous with the sci-fi future we dreamed about as kids.

Videos

Then: Your DVD collection was still constantly growing and stores like Blockbuster were still alive and kicking. Internet videos were barely a force to be reckoned with.

Now: YouTube and Netflix Instant happened. Over 100 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute, while TV shows born on Netflix (such as "House of Cards" and "Orange Is the New Black") have become some of the most critically praised in recent TV history.

Chris Rank/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Cell Phones

Then: Nokia and Motorola phones were the two most popular brands worldwide. Motorola blazed the trail for thin phones with a clam shell form factor, while Nokia started releasing the first of its phones to have access to the Internet.

Now: Apple and Samsung have dominate the cell phone landscape, and accessing the Internet almost seems like a quaint feature with all the apps available to iOS and Android today. Nokia continues to make phones, though under Microsoft's banner, while Motorola was just sold off to Chinese computer manufacturer Lenovo.

The Pope

Then: Pope John Paul II was still in the Vatican when Facebook was born. However, a little over a year later, on Apr. 2, 2005, he passed away in his apartment.

Now: Unlike his long-serving predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI stayed in office for a relatively short eight years, choosing to resign from the papacy in 2013. Enter Pope Francis, the first pope to hail from the Americas.

David Paul Morris/Getty Images

Star Wars

Then: George Lucas was in between writing and producing the new batch of Star Wars films. "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith," was released on May 15, 2005.

Now: Seventeen states and the District of Columbia have legalized same sex marriage. Rhode Island, Delaware, Minnesota, New Jersey, Hawaii, Illinois and New Mexico are the most recent states to do so in the year 2013.

Lucas Jackson/AP Photo

Nintendo

Then: Earlier in the year, Nintendo officially announced a new video game console at 2004's E3 conference. That system would later be released in 2006 as the Nintendo Wii.

Then: The hidden scandals of the suburbs are largely associated with the television show "Desperate Housewives." The ABC TV show debuted in the fall of 2004 and continued running for eight seasons until 2012.

Now: They may not be fictional, but they're definitely characters. Bravo TV's "The Real Housewives" is one of the channel's most popular series, with several different locations (Orange County, New York City and Atlanta, among others) having multiple seasons under their belts.

Mars

Then: Twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity landed on the surface of Mars in January 2004. Just two months later, Opportunity found both chemical and geological proof that Mars once held water.

Now: NASA stopped communicating with the Spirit rover in 2011. However, Opportunity is still in operation, alongside the more recently famous Mars rover, Curiosity.